Hey guys I found an old computer that I wanted to do somthing with Linux on it. It keeps making an error beeping noise and I am looking for ideas of what to trouble shoot.
Is it posting? try one stick of ram at a time, or try some other that you may have lying around. can you be more specific on when it is making the beeping noise.
The beeping is a post error code.
Is there a particular pattern to said beeping? Cross reference that with either the motherboard manual or an online source (as all of them tend to have the same post error codes).
Just check that all the power connectors are properly seated and that the RAM is also seated correctly as well.
I pulled one of the RAM sticks out and it booted.
Then I put it back in and it also booted so I guess it must not have been seated correctly
It's like the old Sega/NES game cartage where a film of oxide forms on the contacts and becomes high in resistance and the fact as you pulled the ram out and then back in would of cleared the film off and resumed working.
And thats your science lesson for today.
If it happens again get a paper cloth or micro fiber cloth and a bit of isopropyl alcohol and wipe down the gold leaf contacts and that should clean off any residual crap on them. Also using a light coating of something like INOX or WD40 once they're clean stops the oxide coat from forming again.
Beeping is very indicative of a RAM issue. Glad you got it fixed.
Thanks for the info.
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